B. It is said that the young man has already repented of his love for the girl. But she was not at all frightened when the punishment was announced and she was informed that she was to be crucified. The man, on the contrary, at once turned white and almost fainted when he heard the judgment passed upon him.
A. But a woman is much braver in love affairs than a man.
B. You speak as though you had had experience!
A. Ha! Ha! Ha!
B. Perhaps the master wishes to kill the young man in as cruel a manner as possible.
A. Hush! The lord is here! We are now obliged to remain silent and witness a living drama.
B. And we have a dreadful task to perform.[1]
Though this omits nothing in the way of necessary information, how colorless it is! When we note how perfectly either A or B could speak the lines of the other, we see where the difficulty lies. The lines lack all characterization. The history of the drama shows that while the facts of a play may be interesting in themselves, they are much more interesting to an audience which hears them as they present themselves to well-defined characters of the story. It is axiomatic that sympathy quickens interest. Take a much better known illustration of the same point. The left-hand column gives the opening lines of the first quarto, Hamlet. The right-hand column shows the opening of the second quarto.
| Enter two Centinels | Enter Barnardo and Francisco, two Centinels |
| 1. Stand: who is that? | Barnardo. Whose there? |
| 2. Tis I. | Francisco. [Nay answere me.] Stand and unfolde your selfe. |
| Bar. Long live the King. | |
| Fran. Barnardo. | |
| Bar. Hee. | |
| 1. O you come most carefully upon your watch. | Fran. You come most carefully upon your houre. |
| Bar. Tis now strooke twelfe, get thee to bed Francisco. | |
| Fran. For this relief much thanks, [tis bitter cold,] And I am sick at heart. | |
| Bar. Have you had quiet guard? | |
| Fran. [Not a mouse stirring.] | |
| 2. And if you meete Marcellus and Horatio, The partners of my watch, bid them make haste. | Bar. Well, good night: If you doe meete Horatio and Marcellus, The rivals of my watch, bid them make hast. |
| 1. I will: See who goes there. | |
| Enter Horatio and Marcellus | Enter Horatio and Marcellus |
| Fran. I think I heare them, stand ho, who is there? | |
| Horatio. Friends to this ground. | Horatio. Friends to this ground. |
| Marcellus. And leegemen to the Dane, | Marcellus. And leegemen to the Dane. |
| Fran. Give you good night. | |
| O farewell honest souldier, who hath relieved you? | Mar. O, farewell honest souldiers, who hath relieved you? |
| 1. Barnardo hath my place, give you good night. | Fran. Barnardo hath my place; give you good night. |
| (Exit Francisco.)[2] |
The first of these extracts, without question gives the necessary facts of the changing of the watch. It busies itself only with this absolutely necessary action. The second quarto identifies the speakers, and, by a different phrasing with additional lines, both characterizes them and gives the scene atmosphere. Study the re-phrasings and bracketed additions of the second scene—“Nay answere me,” “Tis bitter cold,” “Not a mouse stirring”—and note that this dialogue gains over the first in that it interests by what it adds as much as by the essential action.